Caspian Sea

Along the western Caspian, the coastal route passes between the sea and the mountains of the Caucasus. Derbent guarded its narrowest passage: the city's great defensive walls reached from the high ground down to the shore and out into the water. Maritime traffic connected Derbent with Baku, Shirvan and Astrakhan, forming part of the network of routes that joined the Volga basin to the markets of the south.